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Deedee Falls is the new principal of Phoenix Union Bioscience High School. The school opened in 2007 with 105 freshmen.

Angela Gonzales

Phoenix Business Journal

From Gilbert to Goodyear, at least two dozen Valley high schools are starting bioscience programs to help prepare tomorrow's work force in the emerging biosciences industry.

Paradise Valley High School received a $3.2 million grant from the city of Phoenix to build a separate bioscience high school, complete with state-of-the art labs, said Cara Herkamp, former principal of Paradise Valley High School.

It will operate under the auspices of the 50-year-old high school. The city's funding will be used to build the 14,000-square-foot structure on the school's existing campus. The high school will share its maintenance and operations funds with the new specialty school, while the Maricopa Educational Consortium will kick in funding to pay teachers and buy supplies.

To be called The Center for Rigor, Relevance and Relationships in Engineering Science and Technology, the new specialty high school is scheduled to house students by 2010.

Meanwhile, Paradise Valley High School will introduce an engineering curriculum this fall, adding to an existing nursing and agricultural program it has offered for the past 15 years.

"We want to grow our programs and provide our students with the tools to pursue careers in engineering and science areas," Herkamp said.

Rick Fisher, director of educational outreach at Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, was surprised to see how many high schools are jumping into the biotech world.

He is reaching out to these schools to help build their programs. On April 18, ASU partnered with the Mesa Biotechnology Academy, The Flinn Foundation, Arizona Public Service Co. and Salt River Project to conduct a summit for 30 high school science teachers.

"We think if we do a good job helping these teachers structure these programs to be hands-on lab, bench-top research project oriented, it will be easy for these research projects to translate into projects for the Arizona Science and Engineering Fair," he said.

So far, of the schools that are trying to add bioscience programs, about 10 have received funding from their school districts, have course numbers, teachers assigned and students enrolled, Fisher said.

Xan Simonson, director of the Mesa Public Schools Biotechnology Academy, also is working directly with these high school teachers to help guide them through the process of establishing these expensive programs.

Last year, she received a $1 million K-12 discovery grant from the Arizona Science Foundation to train teachers in genomic research, giving them hands-on lab bench experience.

She said the program has given these teachers confidence to begin to develop their own biotech programs.

Simonson has been inundated with questions, such as how to get district funding for the expensive equipment.

"It's important to invest in education if we're going to keep our talent in state," Simonson said. "We've got to give them the tools and education opportunities to keep them here. I think it's happening."

She is now preparing to work with another group of 24 science teachers this summer. The Arizona Science Foundation grant can only cover the costs of 24 teachers.

Some teachers have even offered to pay their own way to receive the training, she said.

All of the teachers who completed the training program last year are starting bioscience programs next school year, Simonson said.

She said she has other grant requests into the Arizona Science Foundation, asking for funding to pay for lab equipment that can be borrowed by schools throughout the state that can't afford their own equipment.

Deedee Falls, the new principal of Phoenix Union Bioscience High School, said her high school is bringing in another 150 students this fall for a total enrollment of 255. The school opened in spring of 2007 with 105 students.

The city of Phoenix just gave the school $2.4 million to refurbish the McKinley School building on its 2-acre campus at 512 E. Pierce in Phoenix. It is the historic building that formerly was the McKinley School. The new buildings that house the classes sit behind that structure.

The school continues to add curriculum, based on students' interests and needs, as long as they are focused on science and math, she said.

For example, a few students are interested in forensic sciences, so those classes will be added. Others are interested in engineering, so those components also are being added.

Falls said she is glad to see other high schools offering bioscience programs.

"Many places are trying to get on board with what's happening in our local economy, which is the bioscience pathway," she said.

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